


Rebuilding

by BlueMoonHound



Series: Lucretia [6]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Nightmares, Nonsexual Nudity, Two Shot, bc i cant seem to keep angst out of my fics ever, no halo universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 15:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13103043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMoonHound/pseuds/BlueMoonHound
Summary: Lucretia comes back with the rest of the expedition absolutely exhausted. It's not that she's never done one of those trips before, but today she has the weight of her cycle alone on her shoulders. (and it still makes her dizzy to turn her head too fast, she cut offso muchof her hair.) She folds up her staff, sits down on her bed, andsighs.At least before reading chapter 2, it's probably best to readNo Halo. This is a companion fic.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> Pls excuse my fluff-- I hardly ever write fluff....

Lucretia comes back with the rest of the expedition absolutely exhausted. It's not that she's never done one of those trips before, but today she has the weight of her cycle alone on her shoulders. (and it still makes her dizzy to turn her head too fast, she cut off _so much_ of her hair.) She folds up her staff, sits down on her bed, and _sighs_.

She lies down against her pillows, stares at the ceiling. Can she sleep? Nah. Does she mind? Not really. She's exhausted, but she'd also like a mug of hot chocolate. Lucretia doesn't want to go out into the common area while it's still bustling, so she lies her bedroom and listens for an hour, waiting for the quiet.

She's not particularly unhappy, just, worn down. 

The quiet bothers her almost as much as the bustle, she finds, on her way up the stairs. It reminds her of the sinking, endless loneliness she's endured. The bustling reminds her of being watched, though, and she's more used to avoiding people than seeking them out.

Lucretia digs a mug down from the top shelf and finds the cocoa powder, and some honey, not in the mood to put a lot of effort into this. She's just heaping in some of the chocolate when Taako walks in, wearing a bathrobe and bunny slippers. He looks a little tired himself – he hadn't accompanied her, Barry, and Davenport on the reconnaissance mission. She wonders what he's been doing on the ship for the past few days.

“Creesha are you making hot chocolate – no. Just no.” he takes the container out of her hands. “You deserve better than all that. I'm making stove cocoa.”

“Taako, I don't know if I'm--” She pauses. “I just, I'm gonna--” Takes a step back, but something tugs at her and, no, she can't leave, she needs company right now. “Sorry.”

“Hey.” He seems super sincere for a moment. Taako takes her hands, and then lets go, laughing. “You're grimy. We'll come back to the hot chocolate, okay? Let's take a shower. And then I'll make cocoa. And we can snuggle. How's that sound.”

Lucretia makes a little noise. That sounds good.

“Good.”

 

At first, she's thankful Taako's choosing to respect her privacy.

Lucretia shivers in the cold bathroom, reminded suddenly that she doesn't want to be alone. She looks around, the sound of a single drop of water falling from a shower spigot ringing around in her mind and wearing neat little holes in her self control. Her fingers tremble as she starts unbuttoning her shirt. Why does she have to be so goddamn fancy all the fucking time?

“T-taako?”

A muffled “Hmm?” comes from the other side of the door.

“Help?”

“With what, babe?”

“I uh.” She clears her throat. “Can't get my shirt off.”

“You okay with me goin in there?”  
“Taako I've lived with you for half a century, you think I'm not okay with a little nonsexual nudity?” Just talking to someone calms her down enough that she can steady her voice, stand a little taller.

Taako opens the door slowly. “Ya sure?”

“Yeah,” she sighs. Taako slips into the room, reaching for her shirt. She sighs again and slips it off her shoulder, feeling a little stupid. Taako picks her clothes up off the floor and hangs them up on one of the hooks on the wall. She stands there, not sure what to do with herself, as Taako takes off his own robe and hangs it next to hers, takes off his shoes and positions them next to each other on the floor. He runs his fingers down his face and takes the ribbon out of his hair, letting it loose around his shoulders.

“You still okay?” He says, when he notices her lack of movement. She nods, remembering all of a sudden that she was supposed to be undressing and reaching behind her for the fastener to her bra.

“Ya want me to do that?” he asks, and she nods again. Taako slips behind her and unfastens the clasp of her bra, then unzips her skirt while he's at it. She steps out of the outfit and realizes she hasn't taken off her work boots. She giggles.

“Well that's, a look,” she says, kicking them off rather unceremoniously and standing on the tile. She vaguely remembers some worry she had at the beginning of the mission about sharing bathrooms with multiple strangers, and shower shoes. Taako rubs his fingers into the sore muscles of her back for a moment, distracting her. She hadn't noticed how _tense_ she is, not until right this moment when warm hands are soothing that tension away. Lucretia relaxes.

Taako chuckles. “I'ma turn the shower on so it'll be warm, kay?”

“Mkay,” Lucretia mumbles, bending down to pick her skirt and shoes up off the floor and putting them with the rest of her stuff. While the water is heating up, Taako strips down as well, markedly faster than Lucretia had, though he was wearing a lot less funky fancy clothing and he's not quite as out of it as she is.

“Got a shampoo preference? I'm washing your hair. Dibs.”

“No, and only if I'm allowed to wash yours,” Lucretia smiles.

The hot water feels amazing. Taako washes her back for her, and he massages her a little more while he's at it. She sighs, leaning against the wall for a moment. Then she turns around.

“My turn.”

“Mmm?”

“Turn the fuck around, I'm washing your hair.”

“Oh my, Lucy, didn't take ya for the forceful type.” He grins, putting a hand to his mouth and sticking one leg out. It's ridiculous.

“Shut up.”

Lucretia has to use half the shampoo bottle to lather up Taako's hair properly. There's just _so much_ of it. _Her hair used to be this much trouble_ , she thinks, shaking the thought off. She'd wear a shower cap.

“Your backrubs aren't as good as Maggie's,” Taako grumbles as she works her fingers through some of the muscles in his shoulders, figuring she'd return the favor.

“Neither are yours,” she comments. He just nods.

Lucretia finishes rinsing off and grabs a couple towels from the clean towel box over the sink. She drops one on the counter and uses the other to dry herself off. Taako comes out a bit later and follows suit, ignoring the towel she left for him and taking a fresh one down. She rolls her eyes, wrapping the towel around her body and grabbing her dirty clothes from the hooks on the wall. She pads out of the bathroom and down the hall, leaving her bedroom door unlocked after she enters.

She unceremoniously dumps her laundry and boots next to her desk, letting her towel fall to her feet. She finds her fluffiest bathrobe in her closet (a nice, pale blue, her favorite color) and slides into it. She flops back on her bed with a sigh.

Taako shuffles in a few minutes later, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He looks cold but he's pretending he's not. “Were we gonna have hot chocolate, Creesh?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lucretia says.

“Do you want an outfit?” He offers.

“An outfit?”

“A cute dress or something. Actually, I have a wool skirt I never wear, it'd look fuckin amazing on you. Come on.” He opens the door a little wider, steps back into the hall.

“Hold on, let me put on some underwear,” Lucretia says, rolling off her bed and trudging to the closet, feeling downright woozy. When was the last time she had an actual good rest? A year ago? More? _Bodies_ may reset with the passing of a cycle, but trauma remains, strong and sharp and draining as ever. Lucretia pulls on some boyshorts (she doesn't bother with a bra, because it would require taking her robe off entirely) and joins Taako in the hall.

Taako's room is slightly larger than most of the rooms on the Starblaster, mostly because he and Lup used to sleep together. It features a bunk bed, two desks, and a larger wardrobe than one person should need-- though Taako manages to fill it right he fuck up anyway. He digs around in the back of the wardrobe as Lucretia closes the door behind them, and pulls out a knit, felted wool skirt and a t-shirt that reads “NRDBOI”.

When Taako sees Lucretia's raised eyebrow, he shrugs. “Lup got it for me,” he explains. Sometimes Lucretia forgets that Taako is a fairly renowned scientist. 

Lucretia pulls off the robe and throws on Taako's outfit. The skirt is very high waisted, putting the hem near her knees. It moves in that way knit wool skirts do, motions dragging a little behind where one would expect them to be and tapping on her legs. When she looks up, she finds that Taako has donned her robe. Lucretia pouts.

“Hey, tit for tat, am I rite? I get to wear your shit too,” Taako says. He steps across the room and sweeps Lucretia off her feet in one swift motion. “It's cocoa time.”

She squeaks.

Taako struts down the hall, a whole human in his arms, and deposits her on the couch. “Stay there sleepyhead, I'm making you a warm beverage,” he says. Lucretia finds she doesn't want to argue about this, and curls up on one end of the couch. Time drifts for a moment.

Taako returns, singing something soft in elvish. She can hear the clinking of mugs as he puts them down on the coffee table. “You sure you're up for this? You look zonked.”  
“Ngh.” Lucretia sits up, darts a hand out, and chugs one of the cups of hot cocoa.

“Woah, girl, I didn't let that cool any!”

“Chaotic evil shotguns their cocoa,” Lucretia mutters, curling into Taako's side. She's not entirely sure what a chaotic evil is, or even why she said that. It felt funny to her in the moment.

“Oh, kay?” Taako says. He radiates warmth and comfort and safety.

Lucretia falls asleep in his arms.


	2. After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Lucy?”
> 
> Lucretia stops in the entrance to the kitchen and turns around. Taako is sitting on her couch, a book of spells on his lap. She pinches the space between her eyes. “Shit, did I invite you and forget? I'm awfully sorry, Taako, I've been so busy lately--”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> post- no halo.

It's been a long day and Lucretia can't seem to get a break from bullshittery and confusion lately. This is the third time she's been refused at an important event because she's dead. She's not _dead_. She has no death date, no death certificate. Just because she's lived three times longer than the average human doesn't make her fucking dead.

She trudges home through the snow, not giving two fucks about how hard she's shivering anymore, re-frozen snow getting in her shoes and leaving little scratches on her legs. She stands in front of her door for a moment, because she knows it's going to be hot inside and she's not sure she's ready for the temperature change, then throws it open and kicks her shoes off on the doormat. She leaves the bulwark staff next to it, brushing her robes off before hanging them up. A halo of snow surrounds her on the floor. She wiggles her fingers and toes, making sure she's still got use of them, and then heads towards the kitchen, exasperated and tired.

“Lucy?”

Lucretia stops in the entrance to the kitchen and turns around. Taako is sitting on her couch, a book of spells on his lap. She pinches the space between her eyes. “Shit, did I invite you and forget? I'm awfully sorry, Taako, I've been so busy lately--”

“You didn't invite me, It's just been a while and I thought I'd stop in, yanno?” He shrugs, bookmarks his spot and closes the book, putting it on his seat as he stands. “Cause it's been a while and unlike miss immortality I only have so much time left in this plane.”

“Oh. Yes.” Lucretia's whole body feels twice as worn now, just thinking about that. She stares at the floor.

“You're shivering. How about a bath?” It's a strange moment, Lucretia considers, because it's been years since she and Taako had done anything quite that intimate together, and here he was initiating, offering her something.

“You sure? I…” Why is he offering this again? She's hurt him. It still dogs at her heels. That was a thing they did _before_. Before _everything_.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” She stands in the doorway as Taako gets up and heads into her bathroom. She stays for a moment, the room shifting a little around her. A headache has settled itself neatly behind her eyes, and her ears throb from the temperature difference between here and outside. She's vaguely aware that her socks are wet.

“Hey Lucy? Ya coming?” She hears, and then Taako's back in front of her, a hand on her hand. “You okay? You're shaking.”

“I don't know?” Lucretia says.

Taako frowns.

She lets Taako lead her away from the kitchen and into the bathroom, which is now full of warm steam. Taako rubs her arms, up and down, and mutters something.

“What?”

“your hair is full of snow – Don't you wear like a shower cap or something when it's longer? I – fuck-- I don't know what to do with this, I've only had my own hair --” His hair is wavy, mostly straight, and long as _fuck_ right now. The twins both have gorgeous blonde hair. Lucretia blinks.

“Just don't get it wet,” she says.

“Holdon,” He puts his hands on her head and he's pulling her hair back away from her face. She feels him twist it around, and then hears the snap of a rubber band. (a hairband?) “Okay.” His hands move to her sides, undressing her like a child, taking off her belt and pulling her shirt over her head. She shivers, and Taako pauses to wrap his warm, warm arms around her, rub his hand down her back. She relaxes a little. He puts her clothes on the counter and helps her climb into the tub.

At first, it's far too hot-- she knows it's not all that hot, in reality, but the water feels scalding against her frigid feet. Taako wipes a hand under her eyes, removing tears she hadn't known were there. “Hey Lucy, you alright on your own for a bit? Cause I'll put the hot chocolate on if you are.”

“Yeah,” Lucretia says, feeling away, very far away, but a little safer and a little less disgusting. (It's been such a long day. _Such_ a long day.)

A few minutes pass, and Lucretia finds that lying in the bathtub has become somewhat blissful, after the initial shock. She could almost fall asleep in here. She doesn't let herself, because Taako said he was going to make hot cocoa and she wants to shotgun a mug of hot cocoa extremely badly right about now. And then maybe nurse a second mug, because Taako's hot chocolate is that good.

“Ya good?” Taako asks, poking his head into the bathroom. Lucretia shakes herself out of her stupor and looks up. The water has gone tepid around her, and she's feeling much better than she had been.

“Yes, I'll be out in a moment,” Lucretia says. “Can you fetch my robe?”

“The baby blue one?”  
“Yes,” Lucretia stammers, because that's the robe that she wore the first time they had a chill sesh, nearly three hundred years ago. She had to get a new one, because fabric doesn't last through 300 years of use, but it's essentially the same robe. (the original still exists-- it's folded neatly in the bottom drawer, well worn and threadbare.)

Lucretia climbs out of the tub and dries off, deciding that, due to lack of reliable spell slots at this current time, she'll leave the water for now and worry about emptying it out later. She removes her hair from the bun Taako had pulled it into and resituates it in a ponytail.

“You're still on your feet,” Taako notes when he returns, blue robe in hand. There's an unfinished _remember that first time?_ Echoing after the sentence.

“Yes, it's been less than a year since I got a good rest,” Lucretia says, pulling the robe over her shoulders and tying it.

“I've gone twelve years without one of those before,” Taako prods. “Wait, how often do humans normally need a full on sleep thing?”

“Every night for at least six hours?” Lucretia says. “You lived on a ship with at least one regularly sleeping human, by which I mean Magnus, for one hundred years.”

“It's been a lot more than a hundred years since I lived with a human at all, Luce.” Taako smiles. “Cocoa?”

“Yes please,” Lucretia says. She's more than happy for the conversation to end. “Sorry.” She's ashamed to say she knows what it's like to go twelve years without much sleep, though that was after she was immortalized, and she's not sure how much it counts.

She does, however, know that she's got a mug of Taako's hot chocolate in her hand, so she shotguns that bullshit, tipping it down her throat as fast as she can and letting the contents simultaneously warm her up and coat her esophagus with milky goodness. She learned the trick first so she could down coffee at the fastest possible rate, and it eventually stuck because it's an oddly satisfying thing to do. Taako watches her, just as perturbed as he always is when she acts like a fucking lunatic.

“You're only allowed a second one if you don't fucking down it in five seconds, please Lucy, ya gotta enjoy life.”

“Of course,” Lucretia says, as professionally as one can while standing in the kitchen in a bathrobe after downing an entire mugful of hot chocolate. Taako refills her cup.

Sipping it is, after all, good too. Taako seems relieved when she only swallows a mouthful this time. He turns the stove to low. “Living room might be more comfortable.”

“Yeah,” Lucretia returns, headed in the direction of the couch.

Taako finds the most comfortable position (head on Lucretia's shoulder, legs propped against the arm of the couch) and settles there, intent not to move for a while. Lucretia relaxes into the back of the couch with elf ears awfully close to her face, trying her hardest not to spill hot chocolate on Taako's hair when they move. She tucks her feet up next to Taako's thigh and wiggles till she's squished in between the cushions.

 

_The ship hums under her feet, purring like an animal. Lucretia stares at the ceiling. Fischer is there, bobbing up and down. Fischer is in a jar, and Lucretia is sitting on a metal throne, her staff in her hand, but it's the wrong staff, it's her old staff, the one she could fold up to half the size. Taako stands before her, and he's smiling, but his smile is wrong and lopsided and full of sadness that he's not even aware of. Lucretia finds her feet moving against her will and she's running, running through the felicity wilds till she stumbles out in her bedchamber. Junior calls to her. She puts her hand against the glass. Taako raises the umbra staff, points it at her head. Five. Four. Three. Two. The hunger eats the ship, she doesn't make it. She doesn't make it. She's overwhelmed by the darkness and the universe ends._

Lucretia wakes up.

She knows that she had a nightmare, but waking up this time doesn't feel like waking up from a nightmare. Sleep clings to her like gossamer spiderwebs, like gentle fingers dragging her into an immeasurable sea. She stares at the ceiling. She doesn't want to sleep.

Taako is still leaning against her, his right ear still brushing her cheekbone when she moves. It's soft, covered in peach fuzz. She realizes she's still holding a half-full cup of hot cocoa, and leans over to put it down on the table. Taako makes a little noise of dissent and rolls over in his sleep to wrap his arms around her. She manages to get the cup on the table, just barely, before being pulled back onto the couch.

She searches for a moment in her brain, trying to recall her nightmare. She has nightmares a lot, these days, which she supposes is why they don't bother her anymore-- or, actually, it's probably the knowledge that these are memories, and nothing she's done before she can't handle doing again. That might be a lie. She's never sure about anything.

Lucretia decides she doesn't know and it doesn't matter. She pets Taako's ear. It flicks under her fingers like a cats', but rather than seeming agitated, he relaxes a little more against her, so she keeps petting. Elves are strange.

 _Not as strange_ , she supposes, _as a three hundred and fifty year old human who lives like an elf_.

Lucretia sits there for about an hour, alternating between petting Taako's ears and his hair. At one point, he even starts purring, which is immensely amusing to her. He turns over in her arms and makes a disgruntled noise.

“Creesha? Thought humans needed six hoursa sleep.” Taako blinks at her.

“I'm not very good at that,” Lucretia says.

“If I hang out will you try to get more sleep?”

“Like, if you live here? Probably. Would that help _you_ get more sleep?”

“If I'm allowed to bring Krav then probs, yeah.”

“I do have a guest bedroom, so I don't see why not.” She doesn't see why, either, but then again, she supposes Taako probably misses the company. Barry and Lup are often busy, so is Kravitz. Lucretia's being turned away more and more from the things that keep her occupied. She wonders, not for the first time, how many humans Taako outlived before he even joined the IPRE.

“Cool cool.” He puts his head back down on Lucretia's chest. “Don't move, you're warm.”

She laughs. “I won't.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is bluemoonhound if u wanna chat! Thanks for reading!!


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